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SPEECH 



OF 



HON. THOMAS L CLINGMAN, . 



OF NORTH CAROLINA, 



ON 



BUfflSH POLICY IN CEMRAL AMERICA AND CUBA, 



lUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, F E BRU A R Y 5> 1837. 



tVAS ttl NGTON't 
Printed at the congressional globe offici 

18576 



yi 






In Exchaage 
Brown Uiuversity 
^ni 17 1934 



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CENfEAL AMEEICA AND CUBA. 



The House being in the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union — 

Mr. CLINGMANsaid: 

Mr. Chairman : My purpose in rising to address the committee to-day is to 
call the attention of gentlemen to a subject of some practical importance at this 
time, and of great moment in the future of this country. One of its points 
is already understood to be undergoing examination in the other end of this 
Capitol ; and I hope some of these days to bring another important branch of it to 
the consideration of the American Congress. Before referring directly to these 
points, however, I desire to offer some general observations which nevertheless 
have a direct bearing on them. 

Much is said, sir, of fillibustering ; and when the British newspapers read us 
lectures on our propensities in that respect, sorne of our own people hold up their 
hands in horror at the prospect presented of the moral depravity of the country. 
It is undoubtedly true, that since the commencement of our existence as a nation 
we have extended our territory from a little less than one million of square miles 
to about three millions. How stands the case with Great Britain ? The whole 
island, including England, Scotland, and Wales, has an area of eighty-nine 
thousand square miles, and yet the entire dominion governed by this island includes 
territory to the extent of nearly eight milfion square miles ! While we have added 
two hundred per cent, to our territory, she has acquired about nine thousand per 
cent. We have increased three-fold in area, she ninety-fold ! And yet she is 
shocked while witnessing our rapacity for acquisition, and complains that the 
American eagle is a " fast fowl " — a greedy bird. What, then, shall we say of th^ 
appetite of the British lion ? Why, her possessions in North America alone are 
more extensive than all the territory of the United States. Her Australian domin- 
ions are themselves, likewise, greater in area than all we hold. In the East 
Indies, on a territory larger than the settled parts of the United States, she controls 
despotically a population of one hundred and forty millions. Besides these, she has 
her provinces, islands, and mihtary and naval stations in every sea, and on every 
shore. It used to be the boast of Spain that the sun did not set upon her empire ; 
but whichever side of the globe be turned to that luminary, and at any hour of the 
twenty-four, it never fails to send its rays down on a section of the British empire 
larger than all the United States. Nor have her efforts to expand her domain 
been relaxed in view of her immense acquisitions, but on the contrary they are 



at this very time being pressed forward with great zeal, both by the Government 
and its subjects. 

They denounce us for our alleged failures to maintain a strict neutrality towards 
other countries : but this Government was the first to pass laws on that subject ; 
and our statutes are more strict, I think, and have been better observed, than those 
of most countries. In Great Britain they are liable at any time to be suspended 
by the will of the Crown ; and, in fact, bodies of many thousand men have been 
organized without objection in and about London, to carry, on wars in the Spanish 
Peninsula and elsewhere, while the Government professed to be at peace with the 
parties assailed. Indeed, companies have been chartered by the Parliament to 
carry on what would in these days be called fillibustering operations. The East 
India and Hudson's Bay Companies are examples. The people of the United 
States are assailed because a few individuals have gone down into Central America 
to aid Walker. What would they, then, say of us, if Congress should charter a 
company, the "Transit Company," for example, and furnish it men and money to 
conquer and hold Central America for our benefit ? And yet such an act would 
be following the example of Great Britain in chartering and upholding the East 
India Company, and enabling it to conquer and enslave a people five times as 
numerous as the whole population of the (Jnited States. 

Our territorial expansion has indeed been remarkable ; but so has been our 
progress in all other respects. Our tonnage equals — probably exceeds — that of 
Great Britain herself We have changed the system of maritim.e law for the world ; 
and Britain no longer boasts of possessing the empire of the seas. 

Already has been verified, in part, the prediction of Pownal, the sagacious 
Englishman, who nearly a century ago said : 

"America will come to market in her own shipping, and will claim the ocean as common — will 
claim a navigation restrained by no laws but the law of nations, reformed as the rising crisis 
requires." » 

" America will seem every day to approach nearer and nearer to Europe." 

" The independence of America is fixed as fate. She is mistress of her own fortune — knows that 
it is so; and will actuate that power which she feels, both so as to establish her own system, and to 
change the system of Europe." 

"America will became the arbitressof the commercial world, and perhaps the mediatrix of peace 
and of the political business of the world." 

So remarkable has been our progress that these wonderful prophecies seem like 
the offspring of inspiration. Great Britain has herself, too, by her conduct, verified 

another striking prediction, that the sovereigns of Europe — 

■» 
— " when they shall find the system of this new empire not only obstructing but superseding the 
old systems of Europe, and crossing upon the effects of all their settled maxims and accustomed 
measures, they will call upon their ministers and wise men, ' Come, curse me this people, for they 
are too mighty for me;' their statesmen will be dumb; but the spirit of truth will answer: ' How 
shall I curse whom God hath not cursed.' ' " 
t 

' Great Britain has exhibited the feelings here depicted, and has resisted our 
progress with a perseverance, a skill, and an energy creditable to her ambitious 
sagacity, if not to her justice and magnanimity. Latterly she has directed her 
efforts, in the first place, to prevent our acquiring territory ; and, secondly, to 
render that territory, if acquired, a source of weakness rather than strength. It is 
to her policy on these two points that I now, Mr. Chairman, ask the attention of 
the House. 

Holding as she does herself the entire northern half of this continent, she easily 
bars our progress in that direction : on our eastern and western borders are the 
Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Our only field of extension, therefore, lies to the 
sout^h, and her efforts are perseveringly and energetically directed to that quarter. 



The Central American question has been prominent before the country for some 
time past. Great Britain acquired her foothold there in direct contravention of her 
treaties with Spain, to whom the whole of that region originally belonged. In 
1763, however, she agreed by treaty to demolish her fortifications, he, and cease 
to interfere with the rights of Spain, he. As this treaty failed to secure the 
country, however, from British occupation, a more stringent one was made in 
1783 ; and three years later, in 1786, additional articles were ratified. As these 
are all substantially the same, I read a clause from that of 1786 : 

" 'Articles. Although no other advantages have hitherto been in question, except that of cutting 
wood for dyeiiig, yet his Catholic Majesty, as a greater proof of his disposition to oblige the King of 
Great Britain, will grant to the English the liberty of cutting all other woods, loitliout even excepthig 
mahogany, as well as gathering all the fruits and produce of the earth, purely natural and uncultivated, 
which may, besides being carried away in their natural state, become an object of utility or com- 
merce, whether for food or for manufactures; but it is expressly agreed, that this stipulation is 
never to be used as a pretext for establishing in that country any plantations of sugar, coffee, cocoa, 
OT other like articles; or any fabric or manufacture by means of mills, or other machines whatsoever, 
since all lands in question being indisputably acknowledged to belong of right to the Crown of Spain, 
no settlements of that kind, or the population which would follow, can be allowed. The English shall 
be allowed to transport and convey all such wood and other produce of the place, in its natural and 
uncultivated state, down the rivers to the sea, but without ever going beyond the limits which are 
prescribed to them by the stipulations above granted, and without thereby taking an opportunity 
of ascending the said rivers, beyond their bounds, into the countries belonging to Spain.' 

" The seventh article of the same treaty again provides for the 'entire preservation of the rights 
of the Spanish sovereignty over the country, in which is granted to the English only the privilege 
of making use of the wood of various kinds;' and it goes on to stipulate that the English ' shall not 
meditate any more extensive settlements' than the one defined." 

It would be difficult to make a sti'onger stipulation against British encroachments 
than is here contained. Yet, though its enforcement was attempted to be secured 
by periodical visits of Spanish commissioners, it, like its predecessors, proved wholly 
ineffectual. As late as the year 1814, ail these old treaties were renewed between 
Great Britain and Spain, and were at no time abandoned by the latter; and yet, 
in the face of such, solemn engagements, the former has established her present 
position in Central America. For a full detail of the means she has used, I refer 
gentlemen to a work published in 1850 by Frederick Crowe, a Baptist missionary 
from England to Honduras and Guatemala. With the indignation of an honest, 
upright man who blushes for his country, he details the expedients and shifts to 
which British officials have resorted to obtain the control and actual dominion of 
Honduras and the Mosquito coast, in such passages as the follov/ing : 

" Nor is this the only national disgrace and absurd exposure which has resulted from the British 
protectorate on the Mosquito shore. Several writers have already noticed the humiliating scenes to 
which the coronation of the present line of Waikna monarchs have given occasion; and all the 
witnesses, except, perhaps, some whose sense of decorum and moral rectitude were little or not at 
all superior to that of the poor deluded Indians themselves, concur in branding these ceremonies, 
not only as ridiculous in the extreme, but as disgusting exhibitions of human degradation, and 
impious profanations of the name of God, which has been wickedly associated with them. Indeed, 
it is not a little surprising that Government officials — civil, military, and ecclesiastical — laying claim 
to reason and sensibility, (to speak of no loftier endowments,) could at anytime be found willing to 
lend themselves to mockeries so puerile, and to deceptions so palpable and gross. But some such 
have ever been found ready to take a public part in the desecrations of the so called religious forms, 
and in the name and on behalf of royalty, to place in the least imposing light imaginable, 

" ' The low ambition and the pride of kings.' 

" On such occasions, British men-of-war have been employed to convey the royal person, and the 
naked and barefooted nobles composing his court, to and from Jamaica, or British Honduras. A 
titled colonial bishop has been in requisition to consecrate and anoint with holy oil the semi-savage, 
the tool of governmental schemes of national aggrandizement. The various native lords, generals, 
admirals, and captains, have been clad for the occasion in gay regimentals, which they wore shirtless 
on their tawny skins, and so caricatured the ' soft raiment' that even the pencil of a Cruikshanke 
could scarcely do justice to their attitudes and grimaces while writhing under the confinement of 
braided coats, military stocks; tight boots, &c., &c. 



, "The coronation of King Robert took place at Belize on the 23d of April, 1825. None of the 
above elements were then wanting, except that the part of the Archbishop of Canterbury waa 
performed by the chaplain of the settlement in the room of his superior, whose absence was more 
than atoned for by other details of the pageant. On this occasion it was deemed necessary to qualify 
the Waikna nobility for the part assigned them, viz: swearing allegiance to their King, by first 
placing them within the pale of the national establishment. Consequently the ' ministration of 
baptism to such as are of riper years' was superadded to the ' coronation service,' and the poor 
savages having ^ssented with becoming docility to all they were asked, were deemed capable of 
taking an oath, and their ecclesiastical disabiHties were once for all removed. Mr. Henry Dunn 
informs us, upon the testimony of an eyewitness of this iniquitous imposture, that ' they displayed 
a total ignorance of the meaning (!) of the ceremony; and v/hen asked to give their names, took the 
titles of Lord Rodney, Lord Nelson, or some other celebrated officer, and seemed grievously disap- 
pointed when told they could only be baptized by simple Christian (?) names:' and he adds, that, 
* after this solemn mockery had been concluded, the whole assembly adjourned to a large school- 
room, to eat the coronation dinner, where the usual healths were drunk, and these poor creatures 
all intoxicated with rum — a suitable conclusion to a farce as blasphemous and wicked as ever 
disgraced a Christian country.' (!) " 

He describes an interview with another of these kings in the following passage : 

" ' Skipper Mudge, who arrived at this port from Honduras last week, in his smack Jfancy, 
reports that he had an interview, before sailing, with his Majesty the King of the Mosquitoes. His 
Majesty wore a splendid cocked-hat and a red sash, and had very large gilt spurs buckled about 
his ancles; but I regret to say that the remainder was, as the painters say, without drapery. We 
must make allowance, however, for the difference of customs and climate. His Majesty, who 
cannot be more than twenty years old, was slightly intoxicated. His suite consisted of a one-eyed 
drummer-boy, and two gentlemen with fifes, one of whom acted as an interpreter. The King of the 
Mosquitoes received Skipper Mudge seated on an empty whisky-cask. He motioned to the skipper 
to take a seat on the ground, or wherever he chose.' The writer then goes.on to describe the further 
proceedings of the interview, in the course of which his Majesty's laughter having been excited, 
the cask rolled from under him, and he fell to the ground; This is the monarch whose coronation 
at Jamaica figured in last year's (English) estimates." 

Such are the means, as detailed by one of her own subjects, that Great Britain 
has used to get the control of the Mosquito coast. 

Referring to a charge made against the English movements in Honduras, Mr. 
Crowe says : ^ * - 

" In order to judge of the truth or, falsehood of the charge of rapacity, let the reader briefly review 
the facts upon which it is founded. 

"With no other claim than what is afforded by the treaties with Spain, we have possessed 
ourselves of the actual sovereignty of territories on the northern shore of the Bay of Honduras, 
extending over about twenty thousand square miles, or twelve million eight hundred thousand acres, 
exclusive of islands and keys. 

" We have taken and retaken the important Island of Roatan no less than five times, and are now 
exercising the right of sovereignty over its fertile lands, which extend at the least to one hundred . 
and fifty square miles, or ninety-six thousand acres. 

" By virtue of a late treaty with one of the contending parties in Yucatan, and on the score of 
assistance afforded for the pacification of the peninsula during the war of races, which is still raging 
there, we have obtained an extension of limits on the northern boundary of our Central American 
empire, extending from the Rio Hondo to the port and town of Salamanca de Bacalar, thus including 
about three thousand six hundred square miles, or two million three hundred and four thousand 
acres of additional territory. Altogether, making, on a moderate calculation, full twenty-three 
thousand seven hundred and fifty square miles, or fifteen million two hundred thousand acres — 
which is nearly, if not quite, four times the extent of the Island of Jamaica. 

" To the occupation of these extensive tracts of country must be added the protection of the 
Mosquito shore, over which our Government exercises as much control as over its own possessions, 
though in a somewhat less direct manner, or rather, by a more indirect course. In addition to four 
hundred miles of sea-coast from the Roman river to the San Juan del Norte, we have lately put forth 
a claim, in the name of the Waikna monarch, to about one hundred miles more of sea-coast to the 
southward of the San Juan, extending through the State'of Costa Rica and a part of the Province 
of Veragua, as far as Chiriqui Lagoon; thus including altogether at least thirty -seven thousand 
square miles, or twenty-three million six hundred and eighty thousand acres of protectorate, 
including the occupation of Greytown. 

" Thus, as the actual result up to the present time, exclusive of such smaller items as Roatan and 
Tigre Islands, we have a sum total of sixty thousand six hundred square miles, or thirty-eight 
million seven hundi-ed and eighty-four thousand acres, over which we exercise full control, being 
nearly a third of all Central America, and more than two thirds the area of Great Britain. 

* Let the reader now decide whether or not we must appear to the natives in the light of ' a 



rapacious nation.' To them it matters little whether our encroachments and our occupation of 
their country be defended on the plea of a ' right of conquest,' founded on the successful defense 
of St. George's Key in 1798, or whether we are unprincipled and shameless enough openly to take 
advantage of circumstances, by replying to the remonstrances of the neighboring republics, that 
our treaties were made with Spain and not with them; and to the claims of Spain, that they have 
no further dominion over these territories since their late colony became independent. 

" The natives cannot but consider these territories as a part of their country, which ought to be 
as free from the dominion of European monarchical government as they are themselves. It must 
%veigh little with them whether we ground our claim to the Island of Roatan upon its first piratical 
seizure, or on the fact that some fifty years ago we located upon it the remnant of a nation which 
we had well nigh exterminated in despoiling them of their native isles. The Central States, as well 
as the British "Government, know it to be, commercially, the key to the navigation of the Bay of 
Honduras, and must feel it inconveniently near to their own shores, while in the hands of a Power 
so aggressive and so much their superior. In the magnanimous protection extended over the 
Mosquito shore, and in the residence of Mr. Coates, as British Commissioner to the Waikna King, 
they can discover no benevolence or philanthropy. If they had been inclined to forget the former 
attacks made upon the River San Juan del Norte, they could not now be expected to view with 
placid indifference our occupation of its best port, which commands the line of oceanic com.muni- 
cation, at the very time that this grand project is most likely to be realized. 

" In the occupation of British Honduras and Roatan, the protectorate of the Mosquito shore, the 
annexation of Tigre Island, the seizure of the ports and inlets in the Gulf of Fonseca, the blockade 
of the Atlantic arTd Pacific coasts of Salvador and Honduras, in the bearing of British officials, and 
in the tone and tenor of diplomatic relations, the Central Americans can perceive little besides ' La 
loi et le raison du plus fort' — the law and the logic of the stronger party; and what wonder that, 
writhing under the grasp of the iron hand of oppression, they should mutter in their torture, 
' Rapacious nation !' 'Vandals of the age 1' " 

It was thus that, in defiance of all treaty obligations, Great Britain advanced 
steadily towards the occupation of Central America until the discovery of the gold 
mines in California. At once there was a rush of our people towards that land, 
across the Isthmus and through Central America. It instantly became manifest 
that this whole region was in danger of becoming Americanized, and that our 
eagle, in his flight from the Atlantic to the Pacific, would there find a resting-place. 
Up to this time, Great Britain had the advantage, but suddenly the scale was 
turned in our favor. In passing from one part of our territory to another, we were 
likely to occupy the intermediate ground. England at once changed her tactics. 

In the year 1850 our Cabinet was more feeble and imbecile, as a whole, than 
any that the country has ever been blessed with, and, as such, it was easily 
entrapped by British diplomacy. The so-called Clayton-Bulwer treaty was the 
result. It provided that the United States and Great Britain would neither, directly 
nor indirectly, " occupy, or fortify, or colonize, or assume or exercise any dominion 
over Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito coast, or any part of Central America." 
This treaty, according to the construction put upon it by Great Britain, which she 
has maintained in fact, left her in the full possession of the territory there which 
she had already seized in violation of her stipulations with Spain. In substance, 
therefore, it simply declared that, as Great Britain had possession of the principal 
part of the coast and the territory most valuable, she should continue to hold it; 
while the United States, having nothing, agreed that they would acquire nothing 
there. As long as this treaty should stand, so long would Great Britain have to 
populate, improve, and fortify the territory held by her. When she had thus 
become -so strong there as to be able to control the destinies of that whole region, 
if the treaty were annulled, the United States, not having one foot of ground, would 
have been in no condition to contend with her, and hence Central America would 
inevitably have become one of her possessions as completely as Canada is at this 
day. 

i see it stated in the newspapers, Mr. Chairman, that there is a project on foot 
to amend this treatv. Though the particular additions and qualifications suggested 
may be improvements on the original treaty in some respects, yet, as they rest on 
a foundation which is unsound and treacherous, I hope they will never be sanctioned 



8 

by this Government as published. The original Ckyton-Bulwer treaty must be 
got rid of. Possibly it might be well to add a proviso, that at the end of five 
years, for example, the whole, both of the original and supplemental articles, should 
become void. We might afford to submit to a bad treaty for a time, with a 
certainty that we were soon to be relieved from it. 

Emboldened by a success in this movement which could hardly have been looked 
for, the next step in English diplomacy was the proposition for the tripartite 
convention in relation to the Island of Cuba. The British Government, in 
conjunction with that of France, on the 2.3d of April, 1 852, proposed to the United 
States that the three Governments should jointly and severally agree that no one 
of them should ever acquire the Island oLCuba. The administration of Mr. 
Fillmore declined the arrangement ; and the dispatch of Mr. Everett, the then 
Secretary of State, has been much commended for its ability. That the reasons 
why the United States could not. be expected to consent to such an arrangement 
are ably and handsomely stated, no one can question ; but it is due to truth that 1 
shall say that, in my judgment, our Government let itself down by consenting to 
argue such a question. The reply the proposition merited might have been given 
with far more force and justice in ten sentences. It might well have been said iu 
answer, that if Great Britain and France chose to suggest to the United States that 
neither of the three' Governments should acquire additional territory in any part of 
the world, as such a proposition v/ould have the appearance of mutuality and 
fairness, the Government of the United States would take it into consideration ; but 
that the proposition actually submitted did not merit to be entertained at all. At 
that very time, sir. Great Britain was actively extending her dominions in Asia 
and elsewhere, and France was pressing her conquests in Africa ; and in the face 
of these things they had the modesty to propose that the United States should 
agree not to acquire a territory on her borders, eminently desirable to her, and 
lying in the very direction in which alone she could hope for extension. Was 
there ever a more impudent proposition ? and did not our Government low^ itself 
by condescending to argue it ? 

But having failed to induce the United States to agree never to acquire the 
island, Great Britain determined to ruin it, so that whenever it did fall into our 
hands, it should at least prove worthless. In the conduct of wars in barbaric 
times, when a province could no longer be held against an invader, it was not 
uncommon for those who were compelled to abandon it to burn its cities, destroy 
its bridges and aqueducts, poison its wells, and waste its fields, so that the 
conqueror might find its possession an incumbrance rather than an advantage. 
Such is the policy which Great Britain has deliberately adopted with reference to 
Cuba and the VVest India Islands. Seeing that, in the natural course of things, 
they will probably become ours, she has resolved that, if not entirely ruined, (for to 
do this is beyond her power,) they shall at least be so damaged as greatly to reduce 
their value to us. 

Early in the present session, a gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Etheridge] 
introduced a resolution denouncing in strong terms any suggestion in favor of 
reopening the African slave trade. It was followed by the resolution of my friend, 
from South Carolina, [Mr. Ork,] likewise decidedly adverse to such restoration, 
which the House with great unanimity adopted. 

Well, sir, about that very time the newspapers were bringing to our notice such 
paragraphs as these. I read from the Daily Globe which was laid on our desks 
on the morning of the 16th of December last: 

" The New York Journal of Commerce has a letter from Havana, stating that the African slave 
trade is flourishing there without check, and that there are large and increasing importations of 



9 

Chinese, a Spanish ship having just arrived with three hundred and twenty, and seven hundred 
and sixty.-five having been sold during the previous week, at from $170 to ^190 per liead." 

In the Union of January 1, I find the following paragraph : 

"The Cooly Trade. — Extract of a letter from Havanna, dated the 25th ultimo: 'Another 
cargo of three hundred and nineteen Asiatics have arrived here, decimated from the quanlity 
embarked at Amoy during a voyage of two hundred and twenty-six days. They arrived on the 
22d by a Holland ship, Bellona, Scriver, consigned to Torreis, PLientes,& Co. They have been 
already assigned to purchasers by the speculators in this trade at $170, and some of them resold at 
$190 each." 

These specimens are sufficient ; and from them it seems that in sight of our own 
coast, pubticly and in open market, white men are regularly sold into slavery, 
without one word of complaint from the sensitive member from Tennessee [Mr. 
Etmekidge] and his numerous backers on this floor. 

Look for a moment at the difference between the two cases. The African 
slave trade was abolished by this Government fifty years ago, and since then all 
the civilized countries of the world have pronounced and legislated against it in 
the most decided form that human enactments can assume. Besides this, Great 
Britain and the United States keep up large fleets on the coast of Africa to prevent 
individuals from engaging in it. Nor has any member of Congress ever proposed 
here by bill, resolution, or speech, as 1 know or believe, to reestablish it ; nor has 
any one State or State Legislature recommended it ; and yet the bare suggestion by 
one individual that it ought to be reopened, gave such a shock to the sensibilities 
of the gentleman from Tennessee, that his feelings could only find vent in the most 
exaggerated and heart-rending figures of speech. He seemed to be thrown into 
convulsions by the idea, as a hydrophobia patient is by the sight of water ; and 
yet he represents a body of white men on this floor, and looks with supine indif- 
ference on the sale, in open daylight, of large numbers of white men occurring on 
our very borders. Nor is there any law existing to prevent this really great 
mischief. But while he is thus indifferent to the existence of the slave trade in 
white men — men of the same color with his constituents, the idea that negroes 
should be sold so operated on him and many others on this side of the House, 
that they were thrown into as great convulsions and contortions as a frog's leg 
would be by a powerful galvanic battery. 

I have been waiting, sir, for an opportunity to bring up these gentlemen on this 
question ; and I intend, if it is afforded me, to compel them, if possible, to vote 
directly on a proposition condemning the slave trade in white men. 1 wish the 
whole country to see who they are, if any such there be, who, while affecting to 
be horrified at the thought of the selling of negroes, view with supreme indiffer- 
ence the enslaving of white men. In affirming, as I do, that the white man is 
eminently fitted to enjoy freedom rather* than the negro, I shall at least have on 
my side, and in support of my opinion, the whole history and experience of man, 
the manifestations of nature herself, and the decrees of God Almighty. I desire 
e-specially to obtain a declaration of the opinion of this body against the system 
practiced by Great Britain and Spain. This House o.f Representatives, in view 
of the numbers, intelligence, and capacity of those whom it represents, is undoubt- 
edly the first such body that has existed on the globe, either in ancient or modern^ 
times ; and its judgment, deliberately pronounced, cannot fail to produce an im- 
pression on the civilized world. 

But to show how this system of transporting and selling into slavery these 
Coolies is managed by Great Britain and Spain, I will, in the first place, ask the 
attention of the House to the decrees of the Spanish Government. They were 
transmitted to the British Government by Lord Howden, its Minister at Madrid, 



10 

and are contained in a volume of the State Papers. They bear date, as signed by 
the Queen, March 22, 1854. Their examination shows that the CooHes'are, in 
fact, no better than slaves. Even the provisions made especially for their benefit 
show this ; and I read a few as specimens : 

By the twentieth article, " The colonists may contract marriage with the con- 
sent of their masters." 

By the thirty-fourth article, " Forbidden to leave the estate without written 
permission of master," he. 

The thirty-eighth article provides " That they shall not be compelled to work 
more than twelve hours on the average." 

By the thirty-ninth article, " They shall not be obliged to work more than 
fifteen hours in one day, and shall always have at least six consecutive hours oL 
rest by night or by day." 

Look at these provisions, and tell me if the slaves are in any State of this 
Union worked on an average, throughout the year, twelve hours per day, or if 
they are obliged, at any season, to labor for as much as fifteen hours. As to giving 
them six consecutive hours for rest, why, most field negroes in the South would 
sleep twice that period of time if they did not get hungry while so doing. 

Article sixty-one declares for what offenses they shall be punished, as follows : 

" 1. Insubordination to the master, to the superintendents, or any other delegate of the master. 

" 2. Refusal to work, or want of punctuality in any particular piece of work. 

"3. Injuries which do not oblige the party injured to suspend work. 

*' 4. Desertion. 

*' 5. Drunkenness. 

" 6. Infraction of the rules of discipline established by the master. 

" 7. Offenses against good manners not constituting crimes, &c. 

" 8. Any other act done with malice, and from which injury or damage accrues to a third person, 
&c. 

" Art. 64. When the punishments pointed out in article fifty -six are not sufficient to prevent the 
colonist from repeating the same, or committing other offenses, the -master shall apply to the 
protector, who, if the act constitutes an offense according to the laws, shall decide that Ihe guilty 
colonist shall be punished by them; and if not, by additional disciplinary punishment." 

By these decrees it is provided that the inhabitants of China and Yucatan may 
be imported. The Chinese are white people, and the Yucatanese are Indians ; 
and it might be supposed that these two races ought to be sufficient for the Island 
of Cuba. 

I find, however, in the newspapers, another proposition made to the Spanish 
Government, though I am not prepared to say that it has actually been adopted. 
If not already sanctioned, I suppose it will be, as it is strictly in accordance with 
the policy heretofore established : 

" 1. Her Catholic Majesty shall concede to the contractor (SeiJior Meana) the usufruct of the 
Islands of Fernando Po, Annobom, and Corisco, with their wild and cleared lands, for the term of 
twenty years from the date of the concession, giving him also an assistance of f20,000 yearly." 

" 11. He shall be authorized to transport to the Island of Cuba, to the exclusion of all others, 
under contract for the term of eight years, such inhabitants of the said islands as voluntarily, and 
without any kind of coercion, may agree to come to it, under the following condition: 

" The grantee shall not receive in repayment of all cost, from the masters to whom the persons 
contracted shall be assigned, and to whom, with this view, their contracts shall be transferred, a 
gj.-eater sum than p04 for such as are between eighteen and forty-five years of age, and p36 for 
such as are between eight and eighteen." 

The Island of Fernando Po, I need hardly remind the House, is situated in the 
Gulf of Guinea, in sight of the main land, and in fact within some thirty miles of 
Old Calabar, a principal station for the African slave trade. Of course, the people 
taken from this region will be Guinea negroes. But it is provided that none shall 



11 

be taken away but those who agree to go. Who will they be, sir. Why, it is 
well known that annually large numbers of slaves are brought from the interior to 
the coast to be sold, and when purchasers are not found they are slaughtered in 
large gangs, because their masters are afraid to turn them loose ; I me^n the males. 
The females are bought usually by the Kroomen along the shore ; and, as I have 
been informed by our Navy officers stationed on that coast, they command sixteen 
dollars apiece, while the male negroes may be worth only six. Of course these 
negroes, when they find that it is a choice between death and transportation, will 
agree to take the latter, and will thus be enrolled. 

The provision limiting the price for the first class to ,^204, is pregnant with 
suggestions. It is not intended to cripple or diminish the trade, since it is clear 
that, even at these rates, enormous profits will be made by the shippers and sellers. 
It is, on the contrary, directly intended to increase the traffic to the most frightful 
extent, as the supply is inexhaustible. By thus putting them at a low rate, the 
purchasers will be the more tempted. The planters of Cuba, seeing that their 
island is to be ruined anyhow, will be forced to conclude that it is their true interest 
to get as many of these creatures as possible, and work them even to death in eight 
years. Every one knows that he who hires a horse for a short period is apt to 
take less care of him and work him harder than the owner would do. Then it 
may be assumed that not many will survive this period. But should they even do 
so, and be then in good faith liberated, how many of them will, in fact, ever reach 
Africa again ? Who that knows the Guinea negro expects them to return by force 
of this Spanish contract 1 No, sir, they will remain there ; and these negroes, by 
their mixture with the Chinese Coolies, the Yucatanese Indians, and the present 
black and mongrel population of Cuba, will fill the island with a body of savages, 
so that such of the planters as have the means of emigrating will be forced to do 
so, and thus this beautiful gem of the Antilles will soon be in a worse condition 
than it was when Columbus crossed the Atlantic. 

The acts of the British Government justify us in assuming that, as she sees that 
the West India Islands are likely to be ours, she has deliberately resolved to ruin 
them as far as it in her power lies. This is, however, all professed to be done in 
the name of humanity ! How long is it, sir, since Great Britain, in one year, 
permitted more than two millions of her Irish subjects to starve to death ? Why, 
the newspapers state — whether truly or not I cannot tell — that more than twenty- 
one thousand of them perished in this way during the past year. These things 
are permitted to occur, without an}^real or sincere effort to prevent them. In fact, 
what she has spent on her African fleet would have been more than sufficient, if 
properly directed, to have saved the lives of every one of those white people. 
Then look to the frightfully cruel system that is carried on by her in India, There, 
a population more than five times as great as that of the whole United States is 
subjected to the most grinding oppression. The land is owned in places by the 
Government, and the people are compelled to work it, and pay one half, and even 
more in some provinces, as rent. To collect this exorbitant amount, torture is 
habitually applied to the miserable laborers. There is no doubt about this matter. 
The British Parliament was forced, by public opinion at home, to appoint a com- 
mission to go to India and take testimony. Their report, officiahy made, shows that, 
to force the laborers to perform more than human nature is capable of, there are 
constantly and systematically applied tortures which surpass in variety and cruelty 
those of the famous Spanish Inquisition, or even such as the imagination of antiquity 
was able to invent for application in the infernal regions. The mind absolutely 
shrinks back from the atrocities of these details. A large percentage of the immense 
population of the country has already perished most miserably by these tortures, and 



12 

the famines consequent on such exactions. And yet, sir, though these matters have 
thus been made pubhc in England, and also in this country, and during the last 
year, by myself and others, commented on, yet they have been completely ignored 
by that portion of our press and those orators that profess to have in their especial 
charge all matters pertaining to freedom and humanity. Is it not a strange spec- 
tacle, sir? But so absorbed are the Abolitionists in their idolatry of everything 
English, that if one could speak to them in a voice louder than seven thunders, they 
would not hear these things. Yes, sir, if the idea was sharpened to the keenest point 
possible, and then driven by the force of an engine of ten thousand horse power, 
it would not be able to make a lodgment in their brains. No, sir, the genuine 
Abolitionist would look you right in the face, with the stolid, stupid insensibility 
of a stone image. Mr. Chairman, suppose a man were to tell you that he was 
shocked by your cruelty to your slaves, or servants ; and at the same time you 
knew that, with ample means in his hands, he allowed his own" children to starve 
to death from time to time, and that he also had seized upon other persons, and 
because they did not perform tasks that exceeded the powers of human nature, 
was torturing them to death by every sort of devilish device that malice and 
cruelty could suggest, would you believe in that man's humanity ? Then, sir, I 
do not believe in, this kind of British humanity. 

The beautiful islands that stud our American Mediterranean are in this way 
likely to be made desolate, and to become the abode of savages. Should they fall 
into our hands in the march of events, they will present serious obstacles in the 
way of turning them to a proper account. How long did it take the Pilgrims to 
kill, or otherwise get clear of, the Pequods and other Indians in New England ? 
What obstacles did not the savages present to the settlement of the southern States ? 
If Great Britain should merely retard the occupation of these islands for twenty -five 
or fifty years, this would be a great deal gained to her, as she thinks, in the race 
between the two countries. If all these islands are placed in the condition that 
St. Domingo now is, how are they to be made to answer the purpose for which 
Providence seems to have intended them ? There is a precedent in English history 
which is brought to mind. In the year 1066, one William, Duke of Normandy, 
surnamed the Conqueror, crossed the British channel with a body of his followers. 
He beat down the English, killed their monarch, and seized upon the island. He 
then divided its territory and inhabitants among his followers. 1 cannot say, Mr. 
Chairman, that I approve of this precedent, because the fair-haired, white-skinned 
Saxons then enslaved have since shown that they are eminently worthy of the 
freedom that they have by their intellect and courage recovered. 

But would the same remark apply to the negro race anywhere? Suppose that 
Lopez, Walker, or some other Norman or South-jnan filiibuster, should make a 
descent on St. Domingo, confiscate the island, and divide its territory and people 
(such, at least, as did not choose to emigrate from it) among his followers, the 
civilized world would be a gainer, and its present population probably not losers 
by the operation. I rather think, with Carlyle, the English writer, that CufFee. 
living lazily on squashes, has no right to expect that he is forever to incumber 
these fine islands ; but that somebody or other will, one of these days, set him to 
work, and make him produce sugar, coffee, and the like things, which Providence 
seems to have intended these islands to yield for the benefit of mankind. At least, 
CufFee's title to obstruct a proper use of these West Indies is not better than was 
that of the original savages and wolves to hold, against our present system of 
civilization, these banks of the Potomac, on which our magnificent Capitol now 
stands. 

Great Britain, has, too> been sending her Jamaica free negroes into Central 



13 

America to Africanize it likewise. Such being her policy, viz : to prevent, if 
possible, our acquisition of territory — and if this attempt on her part should fail, at 
least to render the territory of as little value as possible — what has our Government 
been doing to counteract her movements? lam sorry to be obliged to say, little 
or nothing. The present Administration, in advance of its predecessors, has, it is 
true, directed its attention to the subject, and made some remonstrances against 
these movements. In a dispatch of July 2, 1853, Mr. Marcy, the Secretary of 
State, to Mr. Buchanan, our Minister at London, says : 

" We do not complain that Great Britain enforces her treaty stipulations in regard to the emanei- 
pado.i in Cuba; but if it should prove to be true that she is using; her influence in furtherance of a 
design to fill that island with emigrants from Africa, in order that when the Spanish rule orer it 
shall cease it may become an Africah colony given over to barbarism, she ought to be conscious 
that she is concurring in an act which, in its consequences, must be injurious to the United States." 

How does Mr. Buchanan reply ? On the 18th of October, 1854, he says : 

'* Under such circumstances, we ought neither to count the cost nor regard the odds which Spain 
might enlist against us. We forbear to enter into the question, whether the present condition of 
the island would justify such a measure? We should, however, be recreant to our duty, be 
unworthy of our gallant forefathers, and commit base treason against our posterity, should we 
pgrmit CuBa to be Africanized, and become a second St. Domingo, with all its attendant horrors to 
the white race, and suffer the flames to extend to our own neighboring shores, seriously to endanger, 
or actually to consume, the fair fabric of our Union." 

This language, sir, of the President elect has the ring of the true metal. It is 
genuine buUion, and not tinsel merely put on to deceive the public. Under him 
we are entitled to expect that the country will take the proper stand to resist the 
British policy which I have been condemning. We need a bolder foreign policy, 
sir. 

But we shall, perhaps, be told that there is danger of a war with England if 
we do not acquiesce in her views. Sir, we have no treaty with Great Britain to 
prevent her taking possession of Mexico, and yet she does not seize it. We 
expressly refused the convention as to Cuba, and though she muttered some 
threats, hitherto she has not attempted to take it. She does not do so, because it 
is not, in her opinion, her interest under the existing circumstances. Then why 
should Central America be in more danger of sfizure from her ? Will not the 
same stand on our part that is sufficient to protect Cuba likewise prevent her 
taking possession of Central Americ^? I do not suppose for a moment that she 
. w^ould hesitate to go to war with us tomiaintain her honor, or to protect any really 
essential interest. But if we are involved in a rupture with her, it will be because 
of some sudden and unforeseen casualty which leaves her no alternative. As we 
are not likely to give her any just occasion, so she will not deliberately go to war 
with us. She is too good a calculator for that. In the first place, look at the 
commerce between the two countries. During the last fiscal year, we purchased 
from her goods, &.C., to the value of one hundred and fifty-four millions of dollars, 
and sold her in return two hundred and four millions. There is a trade between 
the two countries of three hundred and fifty-eight millions, which must be sacri- 
ficed during a war. She also gets from us the cotton that supplies her manufac- 
turing establishments. If she were compelled to procure it through the shipping 
of neutral nations, its cost would be increased materially, and at the same time 
the marine of these other parties would be built up hereafter to rival her own 
perhaps. In the third place, a war of a few years' duration would make us a 
great manufacturing people, so that on the return of peace w^e should be in a 
condition to do v/ithout her goods, and, in fact, might have become a formidable 
competitor to her in the markets of the world. 

There is, however, still a consideration of greater weight than all these put 



14 

together. We have hostages on this continent to hold her to terms of peace. 
She could not, at this time, hope to defend Canada against a well-directed attack 
by us. If she had no territory on this continent, she would be vastly stronger as 
?igainst us, and much more likely to go to war than she now is. It may be said, 
however, that if this be so, why should she not make up her mind to lose Canada 
and her other possessions ? But she could not afford to lose them in war without 
great loss of prestige, and the probable loss of Australia, India, and other colo- 
nies. She would then be reduced to the condition of Carthage after the second 
Punic war. She might still be wealthy, polished, and capable of making a formid- 
able resistance at home; but she would no longer be dreaded abroad. The power 
of Great Britain consists mainly in her commerce, her naval supremacy, her 
wealth, \\GY prestige, and her diplomacy. The losS of her colonies would mate- 
rially impair all these sources of her great power. Look to, her recent history, 
and it will be obvious that her strength is not mainly owing to the military force 
she can bring into the field. For the last century she has not been able to fight 
with her own means any of the great Powers on the continent of Europe. In 
fact, I do not remember that during this time she has ever landed her troops on a 
hostile^ territory, but only on the dominion of her allies. She plumes herself on 
beating Napoleon at Waterloo ; but it was after his strength had been exhausted 
in the campaigns of Italy, Egypt, and Spain, and on the Rhine and the Danube. 
It was after he had lost half a million of his best men under the snows of Russia, 
and the remnant of his armies had been trampled under foot by the forces of all 
Europe in the campaigns of 1813 and 1814; it was then' that his exhausted 
energies yielded to Wellington, assailed as he was at the same time by a fresh 
Prussian army in his flank and rear. 

So well does England know her own strength that she used formerly to fight 
France with the help of Russia, and latterly Russia with the aid of France. 
When, therefore, in her continental difficulties, she cannot obtain a povwrful ally, 
she waives the occasion, and consults her interest. I use the word interest in its 
largest sense, for she knows that the preservation of her honor is of the highest 
interest to her. She is as sagacious in avoiding a collision with a powerful enemy, 
as she is haughty and domineering towards a weak one. She knows, too, how 
much may be accomplished by constant pressure upon us, and by constant 
complaint of us. She strenuously opposed the annexation of Texas, though with 
no more justification or excuse on her partt^than we should have had to complain 
of the union between England and Scotland. , 

Notwithstanding the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, she, in violation of its whole spirit, as 
the records of our State Department show, attempted in 1852 to force Guatemala 
to allow a Belgian colony to settle in her territory. 

When there was a proposition made for the acquisition of the Sandwich Islands, 
she, with no claim over them, strenuously resisted it. 

When we were attempting to procure a site for a coal depot in St., Domingo, 
she made active and successful opposition. 

Even at the time we were negotiating a treaty in relation to the guano trade 
with Ecuador, she succeeded in getting up such opposition as defeated the project. 
Why, when Commodore Perry was looking at some little uninhabited islands in 
the Pacific, he was called to account, to know what his intentions were. In 
fact, in all matters she seems to keep up a sort of surveillance over us. As a 
general proposition, I think it may be asserted that Great Britain makes it a point 
to assert dominion over all territory on the globe which is not in possession of 
somebody capable of defending it. She in an especial manner takes it upon herself 
to oversee us, and prevent our growing too fast. But while she has been acting 



15 

thus, our conduct to her has, except when she has directly thrown herself in contact 
with our interests, been forbearing in the extreme. Our Government makes no 
objection to her constant acquisitions in various quarters of the world. Without 
any complaint here, she may go and take possession of all Asia, if Russia does not 
prevent her. She may extend her dominions from the Cape of Good Hope over 
all Africa, if France permits. She already holds Australia — the fifth great section 
of the world. Nor are we disposed to interfere with her immense possessions in 
the northern parts of this continent. But as to that remaining parcel of territory 
which lies between us and the Isthmus of Panama, she ought to see that the United 
States has claims to its control. If she persists in her present course, then let the 
collision come, with all its consequences. Every one must see that our former 
subserviency has neither won her respect, nor obtained her forbearance. 

In the expression of these opinions, sir, I am actuated by no feeling of hostility 
to Great Britain. My course here, as a member, might be referred to, to show 
this. I have advocated the greatest freedom of trade between the two countries, 
believing that both would be benefited thereby. The Canadian reciprocity act 
was much more beneficial to her than to us, it in fact giving to her possessions 
most of the advantages of being in our Union, without the burdens it imposes. 
This measure was grossly partial and unjust to other sections in its principles ; 
and ^yet, after opposing it through one Congress, because it was beneficial to 
ceftEoni portions of our people, and because it was a step in the direction of free 
trcrae^I gave it my support when it became a law. I might point to the late 
matter of the ship Resolute, and some other things, to prove that I entertain no 
prejudice against her. 

The courage, manliness, and other high qualities of the English people, are 
emine'ntly worthy of admiration. While taking exception to the course of their 
Government in some respects, I must commend one of its traits to our own for 
imitation. It protects its subjects in all parts of the world. Our Government 
does often the reverse with regard to its citizens. . Hence, when in foreign coun- 
tries, I understand that Americans, where it is practicable to do. so, represent 
themselves as being Englishmen, and thus secure respect and protection. Many 
instances might be referred to to show this. I read, as a sample, an extract from 
a letter written by an American lady in Nicaragua : 

"The American Minister was called h^H^at the worst time, for this war is not against General 
Walker alone, but on all Americans. PoH^Ir. Callaghan was whipped to death when he fell into 
the hands of the enemy, although he was^io officer; and every American they can catch is destined 
to the same fate. English people are not treated so, for England will not put up with it; but our 
Government is the meanest in the world in that way." 

This probably does some injustice to our Government. Our Secretary of State 
has, periiaps, done all in his power with our limited Navy. You told me, Mr. 
Chairman, that when you represented our country as Commissioner to China, 
American interests sufl:ered seriously for the want of a few ships. The conduct 
of Captain Ingraliam in a noted instance is the exception, and it shines like a 
bright light on a dark ground. As to how the British carry it, their late attack 
on Canton shows. There they assailed and captured a city of more than a million 
of inhabitants, with far less provocation than we had in the matter of Greytown. 
As to the Greytown business, the chief, if not the only objection I see, arises from 
the feebleness of those assailed. It did look a little like shooting rats, instead of 
letting terriers attend to them. Probably it was unavoidable, however. So many 
greater wrongs, if this was a wrong, occur in British history, that one is amused 
by seeing tlieir affected horrors at the sight of our barbarity. 

I should not be surprised if she were to hold on to Canton, and ultimately take 



015 999 379 6 



16 

possession of China. She will then civilize it as she formerly did Ireland, and is 
just now civilizing India. She will manage to get some wealth for her officials, 
and some products for her commerce, out of the four or five hundred millions of 
people there. As the population is crowded now to the extent of producing 
frequent famines, if half of them die under the pressure of her foot, why, those left 
will have more room, and humanity will be promoted thereby, and civilization and 
Christianity propagated. 

I hold, then, Mr. Chairman, that while a decided, firm policy on our part to 
maintain what we have a right to claim, will not endanger our peaceful relations, 
yet it is our duty to make the stand in any event. Let Great Britain accord to us 
what we concede to her — let her recognize our equality with her, and there will be 
a permanent, stable friendship between the two countries that must prove highly 
advantageous to both. The acquisition, by the United States, at some future day, 
of the countries of which I have been speaking, by increasing vastly the supply of 
tropical productions for the use of the world, must prove highly ad^ia^tageous to 
all civilized nations. In a pecuniary and commercial point of view. Great Rj'itain 
would receive benefits little, if any, short of ours. The two countries possesf-TOore 
than two thirds of the shipping of the world, and this preponderance is likely to be 
increased rather than diminished. The sixty millions who now speak the Anglo- 
Saxon tongue, if united, by reason of their intelligence, energy, wealth, maritime 
ascendency, and territorial possessions, may guide the destinies of civil zat^bn. 
The faul^will be England's if we have a collision. This is more likelji^to be 
prevented by firmness and frankness on our part, than by an opposite policy. 

If I have not spoken, sir, of the interference with our domestic affai/s by a 
portion of her subjects and press, it is not because I regard that as affording less, 
ground of complaint than the points already referred to. This branch of tli^ 
discussion would involve us to some extent in the consideration of those sectional^ 
issues with which I think the country is already wearied. I have rather sought, ., 
therefore, to present these considerations in such a manner as to invite the 
examination of all who have true American minds, and are willing to look at them 
as national questions should be examined. 



\P?h 



